"So Long" is often dismissed because much of a generation read the series as kids, and were left scratching our heads at the jarringly different fourth book. Well, guess what - it contains probably Adams' most well-crafted prose, and it's his most firmly adult novel in tone and theme. This is rather clearly a…

More than perhaps any other Discworld book, Monstrous Regiment hangs on a central "twist" - and one that keeps happening throughout the book. It's disconcerting, easily sliding towards annoyance, to have an author keep pulling out the same trick on you over and over again. We can't help but feel a little hoodwinked,…

And on the other side of that coin, we have Vetinari, the perfect person to actually run A-M - a creature of pure pragmatism, and one who is rather far from the benevolent dictator one would expect of a "good king".

As ever, I recommend any (or all!) of the first three books of the main branches of the Discworld: Guards, Guards! for the Watch, Mort for the Death books, and Wyrd Sisters (I know, I'm fudging) for the Witches.

Sigh. Sad but true.

The first Discworld game is a real treat. It nails the tone and texture of Ankh-Morpork, and the voice casting is unbelievably perfect (with the possible exception of Tony Robinson inexplicably not voicing Nobby). It's also a damn fine old-school point-n'-clicker.

Yup, exactly me.

So many favorites, but I'll single out Feet of Clay as an underappreciated gem.

Detritus!

No lie: I started reading Jingo just days before Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Going to disagree with Horsery and say that Code Unknown and Time of the Wolf are two of his greatest films, and The Castle is fascinating in its own right.

1. Time of the Wolf
2. Seventh Continent
3. Code Unknown
4. Amour
5. The White Ribbon
6. Cache
7. The Piano Teacher
8. The Castle
9. Benny's Video
…and in a distant tenth, the Funny Gameses. The top five are all very close; the next three are as well.

Unfortunately, her turn at Saturday Night Live was one of the most wooden and charmless hostings in the last ten years, well below the usual par of actor hosts, and more on the level of professional athletes. Hopefully she's better at comedy when not in front of an audience.

Like I said, it was some cursory looking - that's what I get for looking at top search results. Anyway, I didn't know earthquakes were a big deal that far up the coast. Volcanoes, sure, but, forgive my ignorance, how many of them actually represent a threat?

To be less jokey about it, there are electric pumps for that sort of thing.

Plenty of that black gold sitting in the surely innumerable abandoned vehicles strewn about the country.

I hold out vague hope that your comment may be evoking Rebecca Howe.

I'm sure Phil by this point has a highly developed siphoning embrasure.

I get octopusses…but why land octopusses? Won't they be content to control what will surely be about 90% of the surface of the future earth from their octagonal fortresses?

I was a little shocked at how fast everything was. Perhaps I no longer have a clock in my head counting how long some mythical "general audience" will stand for oddness, and I had little illusion that Forte was going to be the only character, but I thought there would at least be a few introductory episodes…